Sunday, January 29, 2017

No, our books are not yet done, which is why you haven’t seen a blog post in some time.

The good news is, the finish line is in view, even if the view is kind of blurry at the moment—though that might be due to lack of sleep or brain fatigue.

We apologize for the overlong blank stretch—believe us, it hasn’t been a holiday, by any means, and the picture doesn't exaggerate. We thank you for your patience and for all the kind words and positive thoughts you’ve sent our way.

If all goes reasonably well, we’ll return to our regularly scheduled blogging by the second week of February, if not sooner.

Image: John Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare (1781), from the collection of the Detroit Institute of ArtsClicking on the image will enlarge it. Clicking on the caption will take you to the source, where you can learn more and enlarge images as needed.

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Loretta reports:
We’ll kick off the 2017 monthly fashion plates by returning to the beginning of the 19th century—and incidentally get a lesson in differences in digitization technology. The first plates and the description are from a Google scan of the New York Public Library’s copy of The Lady’s Monthly Museum for January 1801. They look like the work of an inept artist, don’t they?

Now let's look at the last image, which came from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s online collection. This is the same “Afternoon Dress” fashion plate as above, but what a difference! (Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a high quality counterpart to the Morning Dress plate.)

Many libraries have fine images like this of fashion plates. The trouble is, in most cases—as I’ve complained repeatedly—all we have is the plate. The rest of the magazine, including the description, is who knows where.

Let's hope that the magazines Google digitized in the early days haven't been destroyed, and will one day be re-scanned using improved technology.

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A Polite Explanation

There’s a big difference in how we use history. But we’re equally nuts about it. To us, the everyday details of life in the past are things to talk about, ponder, make fun of -- much in the way normal people talk about their favorite reality show.

We talk about who’s wearing what and who’s sleeping with whom. We try to sort out rumor or myth from fact. We thought there must be at least three other people out there who think history’s fascinating and fun, too. This blog is for them.